McCain exits campaign money race

John McCain is abandoning any hope of catching the Democrats in fundraising.

Based on new financial disclosure reports released Sunday, and interviews with his finance team, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee will instead accept taxpayer money to finance his general election and share other costs with the Republican National Committee.

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The strategy will allow McCain to stretch his campaign dollars by splitting the cost of television advertising and other campaign activity with the RNC.

But the decision also puts the Arizona senator at risk of being badly outspent – even with RNC help – by a Democratic nominee who will be allowed to spend as much as he or she can raise on the November race.

McCain has raised a total of $72 million for his presidential bid, including $15 million in March. He ended last month with about $11.5 million in cash.

In contrast, Democrat Barack Obama has raised more than $236 million for his campaign. He raised nearly $43 million in March and ended the month with $51 million in cash and no debts.

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Obama’s chief rival, Hillary Clinton, has collected about $195 million for her candidacy. She raised about $21 million last month and reported having $32 million in cash, although about half of that money must be reserved for the general election and she is carrying about $10 million in debts.

The Illinois Democrat’s fundraising dominance has been on full display as he and Clinton fight hard toward Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary. He has more offices in the Keystone State than Clinton and has been outspending her on television. In March alone, Obama reported spending $31 million compared to the New York senator’s $22.4 million.

McCain’s decision to bow out of the campaign money race upends the conventional thinking at the start of the 2008 season. At that time, most political players – including McCain – expected any serious candidate to forgo participating in the taxpayer financed system because of the spending limits imposed by it.

It also could also have a negative rippling effect inside the Republican Party.

In the past two cycles, the national headquarters increasingly has been forced to come to the rescue of House and Senate candidates who were badly outspent by the Democrats.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reported Sunday having $38 million in the bank compared to the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s $17 million. More striking, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had $44 million in cash as of March 31, the end of the first quarter, while the National Republican Congressional Committee had just $7 million.

With the RNC focused now almost exclusively on protecting the party’s nominee, House and Senate candidates who don’t happen to be competing in presidential battleground states may be on their own.

It’s clear McCain’s team did not come to its recent decision easily. After sewing up the nomination in February, the senator recruited top notch fundraising talent, including the stars from the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign.